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BENTON, Ill. (AP) – A southern Illinois dentist faces up to 20 years in federal prison now that he’s admitted to defrauding Medicaid and illegally distributing a prescription painkiller.

Sixty-year-old Walter Dawkins of Mount Vernon pleaded guilty Friday in U.S. District Court in Benton to fraud involving a health-care program and to unlawfully distributing the controlled substance hydrocodone.